Re: "Posted by jasonmi7 (My Page) on Sat, Apr 11, 09 at 22:55 My question is; if many of you feel there should be much more strict standards on GC licensing; what are you doing to make it happen? How many of you have contacted your state legislatures, your congresspeople, run petitions? What have you done?" Good point and one I hope every reader takes to heart. I personally have become quite involved in local politics over this exact issue. I've also been involved w/consumer organizations that deal w/the issue, signed petitions, written countless letters, etc. Many people quickly become discouraged and give up, when they find out the legislators are more interested in getting campaign donations from the local buiders association. But I think in time, if people stick to it, they often have some success. I've kind of concluded that licensing is not in itself a good solution--there needs to be a licensing board that is not just run by builders as that's just more self-regulation and it never works. A bond is a good idea, but also there needs to be a public complaint database that isn't censored by the govt or builders or anyone. Criminalizing certain construction frauds is also needed. Educating consumers is also needed and that's something anyone can do, to share what they know about their construction mishaps, what they learned about the state's licensing or lack of it, etc. I was, and still am, determined to make my bad experience be worth something, so I continue to work in these issues and encourage others to do the same. If you want things to improve you have to work on it. It doesn't work if people just sit there and assume a handful of consumer advocates like hadd.com and hobb.org will do all the work. They need numbers of people to help. Citizen apathy is a very bad thing, whether it's about homebuilding, taxes, health care or any issue.

Maggie, The kids are adorable. What cute poses! Have you recovered from Sandy? Your town sounds like it was hammered. Our library is built up on a good sized hill and is still standing. The town square was flooded badly. The post office and fire departments suffered damage but will recover. Our famous bascule bridge was opened during the storm and came through in better shape than we had a right to expect. So, all in all, our public infrastructure is wet, battered, but still in operation. Every week it seems we have one fewer "Closed Due To Storm Damage" sign around town. Progress is slow but is happening. A few downtown businesses are gone for good though. You are so right about the volunteers, agencies, faith based groups. We met people from all over the country here to help. Even Hawaii. Most of the FEMA people were retired and FEMA calls them to service during times of disaster. They are well seasoned in disasters and their calming influence was much needed. I was very impressed with how well all the volunteer groups buoyed the kids' spirits. They were scared and Mom/Dad were busy and preoccupied but it seemed like somebody was always quick to spot need and offer support, a Kleenex, or miraculously show up with a teddy bear. It does make you proud to be an American. I was also proud that there was no looting in our area so officials could concentrate their efforts elsewhere. Thanks for checking in. Hope you're okay or will be soon. /tricia

I was thinking about my former garage (now my den). My DH was a GC. He'd clean out his truck by putting everything into Hefty bags and first, putting them in the garage. Right in front of the door. So, the garage was kind of empty, but you couldn't get in. Then he just left them in driveway. Thank goodness our home is in the country and no one could see. I hated it, but didn't know what the stuff was to clear it out or save. For 3 years I lived in a home damaged by fire and subsequent rebuilding plans. No electricity, plumbing, windows, heat, kitchen, 1 toilet (I begged to have hooked up), and finally a shower. I lived in 1 room with 7 cats and 4 dogs, waiting for him to get thru depression, work exhaustion, God knows what. Turns out "what" was an affair and the rebuilding he was doing on the house and come to a grinding halt because he was "busy". Not working for a year, but during patience and understanding, I didn't know that. We split up and those bags became a blessing. Lots was rusted or ruined, but I was able to exchange anything with a bar code to Lowe's and HD. Probably well over $4500's worth of stuff I exchanged for electrical wire, plumbing stuff, additional drywall materials, roof tar paper, flashing, (stop me) if you can think of something you'd use to build a house, insert it here. Because I had materials in those bags, I was able to get electricity in all but 2 rooms, a donated vanity sink installed, drywall materials (still LOTS of this to do), things built, some plumbing installed, and amazing stuff done. Without buying much at all! Some projects required NO material money whatsoever. I had 43 electrical outlet/switch boxes and the outlets and switches to go with them! When I can get the money together to hire someone, even they started to ask where I had this tool, this gadget, this plumbing part, this electrical box, that wood, this type screw, that drill and this bit, (stop me again) vs. immediately thinking they were going to get an hour break to go to Lowe's or HD. Saved me TONS and TONS in time, money, frustration, and got rid of much of the Hefty bags. Let me sing that song again: It also got rid of the bags. I decided to teach myself how to build cabinets (no kitchen) since I had all this material in the garage and barn. Well, one little class at a woodworking club showed me many of those weird tool things I had were something I could use!!! Glad I didn't clear out everything in a grief/depression/frustration-purge. Turns out when he couldn't find something, he just bought another. I actually had MORE tools than the workshop! So purging by returning. Purging by installing. Purging by building. And not purging something I didn't understand has held me in good stead! I admit to giving away an entire lathe system and an evil radial arm saw. Afraid of that baby! But I know people who take this stuff can USE it. I purge frequently and actually don't have stuff like I used to. I just have no place to put things yet (haven't built closets) so my life is in those Sterlite boxes stacked in different rooms. Slowly but surely, they're either given away or I finish a cabinet. One project at a time, even if it's winding the cord up on the vacuum cleaner.

To give a buyer's perspective, my husband and I have been trying to buy a house for weeks. It's an older house and needs some updates, we figured we might be in a higher insurance pool while we get the electrical up to modern code. We found insurance, but we can't get a loan. As soon as the banks saw that there were closing concessions to cover upgrades they demanded all notes and insisted that all fixes (including some really trivial ones) be completed weeks before closing. We've tried offering to put money in escrow and agreeing to do the fixes within 30 days - no dice. Our realtor is floored - lots of houses in this area have older systems and it's never been a problem. We're now exploring voiding the old contract and writing a new one without any concessions so we can start again. It's a collective action problem - the banks are terrified that they'll have a hard time selling a house if the deal sours. As soon as one bank says they won't underwrite a house with older (but still safe) systems, none of them will because they will run into the same problem with buyers if they try to sell. For the record, this house has systems that are normal for the area, but something has shifted for the banks in the last few months. We have been approved as buyers for more than this house costs, it's been appraised at a higher price than we're paying, but the banks are just gun-shy about any hint of trouble. We plan to do the updates as soon as we close, we just want it out of the way, but the banks won't consider an escrow and timeline. We want to buy, the seller wants to sell, the banks want to loan money to us, they just have become really picky about the houses.